Lots of new restaurants have been popping up in downtown Saskatoon, but others have been shutting down.
Brasserie, Stacked Burger House, the Hills and the Freehouse, just to name a few, have all closed their doors in the last month for a variety of reasons.
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Downtown Saskatoon executive director Brent Penner says that he can’t speak for all of the restaurants, but in general, convention traffic is down due to the economy, which in turn has affected hotels and restaurants.
“If you take a convention that might have 500 people at it and in town for five days, that’s a lot of meals that aren’t being eaten out,” Penner said.
“Convention traffic is something that’s certainly down.”
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Penner also said the ebb and flow of restaurants isn’t abnormal.
He hopes residents will continue to support downtown restaurants as the vast majority are owned locally.